Meet the Austins by Madeleine L’Engle

Title: Meet the Austins
Author: Madeleine L’Engle
Publication: Laurel-Leaf paperback, originally published in 1960
Genre: Juvenile
Setting: New England

The original cover

Description: The Austins are a close-knit family of six – John is 15, Vicky, 12, Suzy 9, and sensitive Rob about five – they say grace at meals, Mrs. Austin reads aloud to all four at bedtime, and Dr. Austin is an old-fashioned country doctor with an office in his home as well as at a local hospital. Their lives are disrupted when their courtesy-aunt Elena calls to tell them her husband and his copilot were killed in a plane accident. The compassionate Austin parents offer to take in the co-pilot’s spoiled daughter Maggy. Between Vicky and Suzy in age, Maggy is spoiled and constantly seeks attention, which is extremely disruptive to the low-key Austin household. The book is told from Vicky’s point of view: she is ashamed of resenting orphaned Maggy but worries about her effect on the family and yearns for everything to go back to normal. Dr. and Mrs. Austin are firm but kind, which helps provide sufficient stability for Maggy to cope with her situation. By the time her elderly grandfather feels able to consider her future, she has become part of the Austin family.

My Impression: Having read this for the first time when I was about ten, I considered Meet the Austins a book about a fairly normal (albeit more spiritual than most) family so it was interesting to discuss it with the New York Chapter of the Betsy-Tacy Society, which started meeting on Zoom during the pandemic. About half had read it before but others found it a bit unconventional and abrupt. One pointed out that opening the book with such an abrupt death and a scene where distraught Elena plays the piano ferociously in her grief might be upsetting for young readers but others felt that children are tougher than that, accepting an off-screen event with equanimity. As I recall, several publishers turned the book down exactly because it began with a death but eventually Vanguard Press, part of FSG, published it.

My pb edition

The Austin parents worked hard to integrate Maggy to their family, showing affection but providing the discipline that has been missing from her life. There’s a surprising number of references to spanking, which reflects the era, but despite squabbling among the children, they are a very wholesome group. Vicky is L’Engle’s alter ego and, while later books about her may contain some supernatural aspects, in Meet the Austins, she is just an adolescent worried about her math homework, her looks, and (in The Moon by Night) boys (does anyone like Zachary Gray?). She is sandwiched between academically gifted John and extremely pretty Suzy. John and Vicky try to be nice to Maggy, and Suzy plays with and gets in trouble with her. Maggy and Suzy get in big trouble when they go into Dr. Austin’s office and use his sterilized instruments for an operation on a doll. They are sent separately to bed in disgrace and Mrs. Austin does not relent, unlike many modern parents:

After she’d howled for about half an hour Maggy came down the back stairs, pouting prettily to Mother. “I’m awfully sorry, Aunt Victoria. We didn’t know we were being bad.”

“Get back upstairs and into bed,” Mother said.

“But I said I’m sorry, Aunt Victoria!

“I’m glad you’re sorry, Maggy, but get back upstairs and into bed, anyhow, I will tell you when I think it’s time for you to come down.”

Mother spoke very quietly, very coldly, and Maggy obeyed. Up in bed she started to yowl again, but this time it didn’t last as long.

It is the youngest sibling, Rob, who shows the greatest empathy, and those who have read more than one book by this author knows her weakness for precocious, sensitive little boys. He sends Vicky his precious stuffed elephant when she is in the hospital and when Suzy is in disgrace he yearns to go comfort her. The Austins are a nice family although I suspect children reading this today would find them very square. On the other hand, one of the funniest chapters is when they all dress up and behave outrageously (Dr. Austin even pretends to be a chauffeur/butler) when their uncle Doug says he is coming for the weekend with a female guest. They assume it is another all-wrong girlfriend and decided to scare her off. When it is too late to modify their behavior, she turns out to be Maggy’s cousin, there to inspect them and determine if they are suitable hosts (notably, she does not thank them for taking Maggy in – probably because she is horrified by them). It is when they are at risk of losing Maggy that Vicky and John realize she has become part of the family.

Boston connection: At the end of the book, the Austin parents surprise the five children with a trip to Symphony Hall, where it turns out Aunt Elena is playing Rachmaninoff with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Source: Personal copy. I met L'Engle once at a booksigning at the old Brentano's on Fifth Avenue. People had driven from Ohio to be there! It was right before Christmas and the mood was very festive. I don't remember our conversation but I probably told her that my favorite book was And Both Were Young.  The book she signed was the beautifully produced The Glorious Impossible.

My computer is apparently more used to my writing about Austen than Austin, and keeps trying to impose its own version of spellcheck.